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Journal of Threatened Taxa Building evidence for conservaton globally www.threatenedtaxa.org ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) | ISSN 0974-7893 (Print) Communication Nesting trees of the Red Giant Gliding Squirrel Petaurista petaurista (Mammalia: Rodentia: Sciuridae) in a tropical forest of Namdapha National Park, India
Murali Chatakonda Krishna, Awadhesh Kumar & Om Prakash Tripathi
26 April 2019 | Vol. 11 | No. 6 | Pages: 13720–13726 DOI: 10.11609/jot.4384.11.6.13720-13726
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Threatened Taxa Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 April 2019 | 11(6): 13720–13726
Nesting trees of the Red Giant Gliding Squirrel
Communication Petaurista petaurista (Mammalia: Rodentia: Sciuridae)
ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) in a tropical forest of Namdapha National Park, India ISSN 0974-7893 (Print) Murali Chatakonda Krishna 1 , Awadhesh Kumar 2 & Om Prakash Tripathi 3 PLATINUM OPEN ACCESS 1 Amity Insttute of Forestry & Wildlife, Amity University, Sector 125, Noida, Utar Pradesh 201313, India. 1,2,3 Department of Forestry, North Eastern Regional Insttute of Science and Technology (Deemed University), Nirjuli, Arunachal Pradesh 791109, India. 1 [email protected] (corresponding author), 2 [email protected], 3 [email protected]
Abstract: The present study investgated the nestng habits of the Red Giant Gliding Squirrel in the tropical forest of Namdapha Natonal Park, India within the tme period of 2012–2013. Gliding squirrel nest trees were located by searching for them with using spotlightng during evenings and early mornings. For each den site we recorded data on nestng tree species, total height of tree, height of the nest on tree, tree diameter at breast height (DBH), and canopy connectvity of the nestng tree. We observed P. petaurista using cavity nests (n=27) in eight tree species. The majority of nest trees observed were in Altngia excelsa (40.7%) and Terminalia myriocarpa (22.2%). Trees with less canopy connectvity were preferred for nestng where 59.3% of nest trees had <25% canopy connectvity. Petaurista petaurista nested in trees with an average of 31.1±0.86m (Mean ± SE) height and the nests were located at a mean height of 17.8±0.89m (SE) (min & max: 9.3m & 35.2m). Mean DBH of nestng trees was 70.6±0.98cm (SE) (min & max: 38.2cm & 168.8cm). This data helps in flling the gaps on the denning ecology of the species and may be useful for the management and conservaton purpose of forest trees.
Keywords: Arboreal nests, Arunachal Pradesh, giant gliding squirrels, canopy connectvity, northeastern India, secondary cavity nesters.
DOI: htps://doi.org/10.11609/jot.4384.11.6.13720-13726
Editor: Anonymity requested. Date of publicaton: 26 April 2019 (online & print)
Manuscript details: #4384 | Received 03 July 2018 | Final received 03 April 2019 | Finally accepted 07 April 2019
Citaton: Krishna, M.C., A. Kumar & O.P. Tripathi (2019). Nestng trees of the Red Giant Gliding Squirrel Petaurista petaurista (Mammalia: Rodenta: Sciuridae) in a tropical forest of Namdapha Natonal Park, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 11(6): 13720–13726. htps://doi.org/10.11609/jot.4384.11.6.13720-13726
Copyright: © Krishna et al. 2019. Creatve Commons Atributon 4.0 Internatonal License. JoTT allows unrestricted use, reproducton, and distributon of this artcle in any medium by adequate credit to the author(s) and the source of publicaton.
Funding: We thank The Natural Resource Data Management System Division (Department of Science & Technology), Govt. of India for providing fnancial support for our project and Idea Wild provided additonal equipment that made our study possible.
Competng interests: The authors declare no competng interests.
Author details: Murali Chatakonda Krishna works for Amity Insttute of Forestry & Wildlife, Amity University, Noida currently and works on the ecology and conservaton of squirrels in the Eastern Himalaya. Also, his research interests include plant-animal interactons and road ecology. Dr. Awadhesh Kumar works as an Associate Professor in Department of Forestry, North Eastern Regional Insttute of Science & Technology, Arunachal Pradesh. He works on ecology of primates and on conservaton of threatened and endangered species managment. Dr. Om Prakash Tripathi works as an Associate professor in Department of Forestry, North Eastern Regional Insttute of Science & Technology, Arunachal Pradesh and is a plant ecologist and works in Eastern Himalaya of India.
Author contributon: MCK did all the feld work and wrote the manuscript. AK helped in planning the study and was responsible for planning the course of manuscript. OPT helped in planning the survey for collectng and analyzing the data on vegetaton.
Acknowledgements: We thank the Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (Wildlife & Biodiversity), Arunachal Pradesh, and the Field Director and the Research Ofcer - Tajum Yomcha, feld staf of Namdapha Natonal Park for necessary research permits and logistcal support. We also thank The Natural Resource Data Management System Division (Department of Science & Technology), Govt. of India for providing fnancial support for our project and Idea Wild provided additonal equipment that made our study possible. The Director, North Eastern Regional Insttute of Science and Technology (NERIST) (Deemed University) and the Head of Department of Forestry, are thanked for providing insttutonal support during the study. Dr. Kuladip Sarma and Mr. Parimal Chandra Ray provided support during the feld work and we thank them for their support. We are grateful to Bironjay Basumatary, Erebo Chakma, Sambu Chakma and Tinku Chakma for their assistance in the feld.
13720 Nestng trees of the Red Giant Gliding Squirrel Krishna et al.
INTRODUCTION
Understanding the ecology of a species is crucial for its conservaton and management. Although mammals are among the most studied taxon groups, the ecology of nocturnal arboreal mammalian ecology remains understudied (Bonnet et al. 2002; Clark & May 2002; Jayasekara et al. 2007). Due to knowledge gaps, nocturnal arboreal mammals, such as gliding squirrels, are underrepresented in conservaton acton plans (see Koprowski & Nandini 2008; Data & Nandini 2014). Nestng ecology of gliding squirrels is an important aspect of their biology and is pertnent to their conservaton and management. Gliding squirrels use nests for diurnal refuge, shelter from predators and adverse weather conditons, reproducton, and hoarding sites (Cowan 1936; Weigl & Osgood 1974; Weigl 1978; Lee et al. 1986; Bendel & Gates 1987; Shafque et al. 2009). Three types of nests are used by gliding squirrels — tree-cavites, external leaf nests and subterranean nests (Carey et al. 1997; Hacket & Pagel 2003; Holloway © Murali Krishna & Malcolm 2007). The availability of large, dying, and Image 1. Red Giant Gliding Squirrel in Namdapha Natonal Park, dead trees has been found to infuence nestng strategies Arunachal Pradesh. among gliding squirrels (Carey et al. 1997; Menzel et al. 2004). Subterranean nests are the least common ones that are observed under the tree roots, downed logs of Arunachal Pradesh, India (Fig. 1). The park contains and under rocks (Gerrow 1996; Hacket & Pagels 2003; some of the northernmost tropical rainforests of the Diggins et al. 2015). In areas with high snag densites, world (Proctor et al. 1998) and the temperature in the cavity nests tend to be most prevalent, and in low snag park varies along with alttude ranging between 4–35 areas with tmber harvestng and low cavity availability 0C at alttudes below 2,000m and at higher elevatons, high external nest use is observed (Carey et al. 1997). the temperature ofen drops below the freezing point At tmes, drey’s are even observed where the squirrels in winters (Ray et al. 2015). Monthly precipitaton build nests in the tree branches (Hanski et al. 2000). ranges from a minimum of 1,400mm and maximum of Of the various nestng types discussed above, cavity- 2,500mm, 75% of which falls between April and October nestng has evolved as an adaptaton to avoid predaton (Kumar et al. 2009). Details on park vegetaton are (Martn 1998) and such nestng is considered important reported by Ghosh (1987), Nath et al. (2005), and Ray et for gliding mammals like gliding squirrels (e.g., Taulman al. (2015). Our study was carried out in Deban (27.4830N; 1999; Holloway & Malcolm 2007) and gliding marsupials & 96.3830E), Gibbons Land (27.5000N & 96.3160E) and (e.g., Traill & Lill 1997; Lindenmayer 2002). Hornbill Camp (27.5330N & 96.4330E) (Murali et al. 2014) The objectve of our study was to determine nestng areas within the park and the elevaton range of these tree characteristcs of the Red Giant Gliding Squirrel in three study sites range between 200m and 550m. The tropical forests of Namdapha Natonal Park of Arunachal study sites are dominated by tall trees ranging from 15m Pradesh, India (Image 1). to 45m including common species such as Duabanga grandifora, Neolamarckia cadamba, Biscofa javanica, Cinnamomum sp., Shorea assamica, Castanopsis sp., MATERIAL AND METHODS Ficus sp., Syzygium frutcosum, Spondius axillaris and Toona ciliata. Our study sites were approximately 5–10 Study Site km apart from each other. All three sites were selected The study was carried out at Namdapha Natonal based on the frequent sightng of Red Giant Gliding Park (NNP; 27.391–27.661 0N & 96.250–96.975 0E; area Squirrels and site feasibility. 1,985km²) which lies in the eastern Himalayan region
Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 April 2019 | 11(6): 13720–13726 13721 Nestng trees of the Red Giant Gliding Squirrel Krishna et al.
Figure 1. The study area (Namdapha Natonal Park) and study locatons (Kuladip Sarma and Parimal C. Ray).
Investgaton of nestng cavites the nests were also included in the data whenever a The data on the squirrel nests was collected from nest was sighted. Upon locatng the nestng site, the October 2012 to September 2013. A minimum of 4–5 following nestng characteristcs were recorded: tree days were spent in the feld per month during the study species, total height of the nestng tree (m), height period to locate the nests. The nests were located of the nest on the tree (m), diameter at breast height by searching for gliding squirrels with headlamps (DBH) (cm) of the tree, and canopy connectvity of the (Energizer HDL33A2E (Energizer, USA)), during the nestng tree. The height of the nest was measured using evenings (17.00h) and early mornings (04.00h) when laser distance measurer (Bosch GLR225; accuracy ±1m gliding squirrels usually leave and return to their nests (Robert Bosch GmbH, Germany). We followed Herlekar (Shafque et al. 2009). Only those trails, however, were (2010) to determine canopy connectvity of the nestng monitored which were marked for estmatng encounter tree, where connectvity was calculated based on the rates of the species. Also, opportunistc sightngs of canopy shared by neighbouring trees. If the nestng tree
13722 Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 April 2019 | 11(6): 13720–13726 Nestng trees of the Red Giant Gliding Squirrel Krishna et al. was covered by canopy on four sides, we considered the connectvity, where most trees had <25% canopy canopy connectvity was 100%, whereas if nestng trees connectvity (59.3% of nest trees), followed by 25.9% of canopy had canopy connectvity on three, two, one, or nests with 50% canopy connectvity, and 14.8% of nests no sides, connectvity was considered 75%, 50%, 25%, with connectvity >75%. The mean measurements of or 0%, respectvely (Herlekar 2010). Additonally, to the nestng tree species are presented in Table 1. compare selected trees to nearby trees, we measured Of the neighbouring trees (n=108) observed adjacent DBH (cm), tree height, and distance from nestng tree to nestng trees, ~93% (100 trees belonged to 25 species) (m) of the four nearest trees to each individual nest tree. were living trees and 7% (8 trees) were dead snags. The nearest trees were identfed based on the four And among the 25 species, nine species (n=61) were imaginary quartles which lie around the nestng tree. observed as feeding trees (Table 2). Of the 27 identfed All the distances and tree heights were measured using nestng trees, 24 had canopy connectvity with feeding a Nikon Rangefnder (Nikon 6x21 Forestry Pro, Nikon trees. 12.5% of nestng trees were surrounded by four Corporaton, Tokyo, Japan). The lengths of census trails ranged between 0.5km and 2km. All the trails surveyed were pre-existng and no fresh trails were cut in order to minimise the disturbance in the area. Data on vegetaton was collected along these trails using point centred-quarter method (Cotam & Curts 1956). Absolute density and relatve density of the trees were calculated following Mitchell (2010) where the absolute density of a species was estmated as the proporton of quarters where the species was found.
RESULTS
We observed Red Giant Gliding Squirrels using a total of 27 nests during the study and also found that the Red Giant Gliding Squirrel used eight tree species for nestng (Image 2): Altngia excelsa (n = 11), Terminalia myriocarpa (n=6), Castanopsis indica (n = 3), Shorea assamica (n=2), Syzygium frutcosum (n=2), Cinnamomum bejolghota © Parimal C. Ray (n=1), Cinnamomum glaucescens (n=1), and Artocarpus Image 2. Nestng tree with juvenile of Red Giant Gliding Squirrel in chaplasha (n=1). The nest trees exhibit low canopy Namdapha Natonal Park, Arunachal Pradesh.
Table 1. Characteristcs of nestng trees used by Red Giant Flying Squirrels in northern India during 2012-2013 (Data are mean±SE).
Tree species Family Absolute Mean Mean Mean Mean DBH Mean DBH Mean density basal Area height of height of of the of the distance to (individuals (m2 ha-1) the nestng the nest nestng tree nearest the nearest ha-1) tree (m) (m) (cm) tree (cm) tree (m) 1. Altngia excelsa Altngiaceae 17.4 0.22 31.1±1.3 16.5±1.02 79.2±11.64 40.5±1.74 12.6±0.76 Terminalia 2. Combretaceae 10.2 0.33 31.5±0.95 17.8±0.95 70.8±5.45 40.14±2.19 12.08±0.9 myriocarpa 3. Castanopsis indica Fagaceae 4.1 0.12 29.1±1.31 17.5±0.93 59.96±7.79 41±2.19 16.9±2.28
4. Shorea assamica Dipterocarpaceae 4.4 0.14 33.7±3.6 15.5±0.65 72.45±21.45 35.03±2.3 12.75±1.29 Syzygium 5. Myrtaceae 10.0 0.13 25.6±5.8 20.9±5.6 53.3±15.5 40.8±4.79 12.12±1.92 frutcosum Cinnamomum 6. Lauraceae 0.8 0.20 28.9±0.0 17±0.0 69.4±0.0 37.82±1.88 15.5±3.22 bejolghota Cinnamomum 7. Lauraceae 2.5 0.13 30.2±0.0 14.3±0.0 57.3±0.0 35.05±3.2 8.75±0.85 glaucescens Artocarpus 8. Moraceae 1.0 0.08 41.3±0.0 35.2±0.0 52.5±0.0 37.42±3.7 10.5±0.95 chaplasha
Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 April 2019 | 11(6): 13720–13726 13723 Nestng trees of the Red Giant Gliding Squirrel Krishna et al.
Table 2. Tree species observed nearby P. petaurista nestng trees and Table 3. Comparison of nestng characters of Petaurista species their absolute and relatve density and mean basal area in northern globally. India during 2012–2013. Species Results References Absolute Relatve Mean basal density density DBH of the nestng tree (cm) Tree species area (m2 (individuals (individuals Shafque et al. ha-1) 1. P. petaurista albiventer 77.22±18.67 SD ha-1) ha-1) 2009 Ailanthus grandis 1.1 0.8 0.22 2. P. alborufus 60–80 Lee et al. 1986
Altngia excelsa* 17.4 13.2 0.2 3. P. philippensis 25–52 Lee et al. 1986
Artocarpus chaplasha* 1.0 0.7 0.08 4 P. philippensis 301.6±69.88 SD Koli et al. 2013 Biscofa javanica Ando & Shiraishi 2.8 2.2 0.23 5. P. leucogenys 20–140 1983 Castanopsis indica* 4.1 3.1 1.2 6. P. petaurista 70.6±0.98 SE Present study Chukrasia tubularis* 2.8 2.2 0.2 Height of the nest (m) Cinnamomum glaucescens 2.5 1.9 0.1 1. P. philippensis 10–12 Fan & Jiang 2009 Cinnamomum bejolghota* 0.8 0.6 0.2 2. P. philippensis 10.07±3.22 Koli et al. 2013 Dipterocarpus macrocarpus 1.8 1.4 0.2 3. P. petaurista 17.8±0.89 Present study Duabanga grandifora* 2.6 1.9 0.2 Distance to the nearest tree (m) Dysoxylum gobara 5.0 3.8 0.09 1. P. philippensis 11.07±6.12 Koli et al. 2013 Elaeocarpus foribundus 0.7 0.6 0.06 2. P. petaurista 12.86±0.49 Present study Gmelina arborea 3.9 2.9 0.1
Gynocardia odorata 0.6 0.5 0.05
Macaranga dentculata 3.6 2.7 0.04
Magnolia hodgsonii 5.6 4.3 0.08 tree cavites for nestng at our study site. Firstly, cavites
Mangifera sp.# - - - may provide beter protecton than drey from predators,
Mesua ferrea 1.9 1.4 0.03 such as arboreal civets (Krishna et al. 2015). Secondly,
Neolamarckia cadamba* 1.2 0.9 0.08 the study area receives heavy rainfall during monsoon and thus cavity nests may ofer more protecton from Pterospermum canescens 1.3 0.9 0.2 inclement weather than drey nests. The Japanese Shorea assamica 4.4 3.3 0.15 Giant Gliding Squirrel Petaurista leucogenys drey’s are Spondias axillaris 2.4 1.8 0.14 observed in areas where there was scarcity of tree Syzygium frutcosum* 10.0 7.6 0.13 hollows (Haneda 1955; Tachibana 1957). Also, it was Terminalia myriocarpa* 10.2 7.7 0.33 noted that the species preferred large trees with higher Toona ciliata 3.0 2.3 0.07 DBH for nestng. Similar observatons were reported
* Feeding trees (as per Krishna et al. 2015). earlier in many other studies (see table 3). In general, # The data was not enumerated as the species did not lie in the vegetaton plots. gliding squirrels are reported to need tall mature forests for nestng as they are cavity nesters (Ransome et al. 1997) and are critcally dependent on mature forests feeding trees, 33.3% were connected with three feeding for food, and movement (Verbeylen et al. 2009). The trees, 45.8% were connected with two feeding trees, gliding squirrel nests usually were several meters of the and 8.3% were connected with a single feeding tree. ground and located much lower from the point where branches originated (nearly 5–7 m), which may enable unobstructed access to the nest tree. Also, trees with DISCUSSION less canopy connectvity were occupied more when compared to trees with more canopy connectvity Studying the life history traits and ecology of gliding which might be a reason to avoid predaton pressure as squirrels is difcult due to their nocturnal habits and discussed above. Gliding squirrels are predated by an secretve nature. Our study is the only document array of mammals and birds (Taulman et al. 1998; Fan & presentng the nestng preferences of the Red Giant Jiang 2009; Sun et al. 2009) and variables such as cavity Gliding Squirrel in India tll date. During the study height, entrance size, and conditon of cavity trees are period we observed Red Giant Gliding Squirrels nestng especially important factors for predator avoidance. To only in the cavites. This may be due to availability of decrease predaton risks, gliding squirrels select high
13724 Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 April 2019 | 11(6): 13720–13726 Nestng trees of the Red Giant Gliding Squirrel Krishna et al. cavites with small entrances in live trees (Wesolowski REFERENCES 2002; Ruczynski & Bogdanowicz 2005; Mitrus & Socko 2008; Kosinski et al. 2011). Ando, M. & S. Shiraishi (1983). The nest and nest-building behavior In the present study, it was observed that the Red of the Japanese giant fying squirrel, Petaurista leucogenys. Science Bulletn of Faculty of Agriculture Kyushu University 38: 59–69 (in Giant Gliding Squirrel typically had one or more feeding Japanese with English abstract). trees located adjacent to a nest tree. During our study, Bendel, P.R. & J.E. Gates (1987). Home range and microhabitat parttoning of the southern fying squirrel (Glaucomys it was observed that the individuals groomed initally volans). 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Threatened Taxa
13726 Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 April 2019 | 11(6): 13720–13726
PLATINUM The Journal of Threatened Taxa (JoTT) is dedicated to building evidence for conservaton globally by publishing peer-reviewed artcles online every month at a reasonably rapid rate at www.threatenedtaxa.org. OPEN ACCESS All artcles published in JoTT are registered under Creatve Commons Atributon 4.0 Internatonal License unless otherwise mentoned. JoTT allows allows unrestricted use, reproducton, and distributon of artcles in any medium by providing adequate credit to the author(s) and the source of publicaton.
ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) | ISSN 0974-7893 (Print)
April 2019 | Vol. 11 | No. 6 | Pages: 13631–13814 Date of Publicaton: 26 April 2019 (Online & Print) www.threatenedtaxa.org DOI: 10.11609/jot.2019.11.6.13631-13814
Editorial Diversity and community structure of Odonata (Insecta) in two land use types in Purba Medinipur District, West Bengal, India Building evidence for 20 years! – Prit Ranjan Pahari, Shubha Sankar Mandal, Subhadeep Mait & – Sanjay Molur, P. 13631 Tanmay Bhatacharya, Pp. 13748–13755
Artcles Foraging preferences of honey bees Apis cerana in Dakshina Kannada, Karnataka, India Efect of socio-ecological factors and parasite infecton on body conditon of – A.G. Suhas Krishna & Rajashekhar K. Patl, Pp. 13756–13764 Brown Mouse Lemur Microcebus rufus (Mammalia: Primates: Cheirogaleidae) – Andry Herman Rafalinirina, Jeannot Randrianasy, Patricia C. Wright & Additons to the lichen biota of Assam State, India – Rupjyot Gogoi, Siljo Joseph, Sanjeeva Nayaka & Farishta Yasmin, Jonah Ratsimbazafy, Pp. 13632–13643 Pp.13765–13781 Identfcaton of suitable habitat for Swamp Deer Rucervus duvaucelii Short Communicatons duvaucelii (Mammalia: Artodactyla: Cervidae) in Chitwan Natonal Park, Nepal Study of nestng behaviour of Asian Paradise Flycatcher Terpsiphone – Shravan Kumar Ghimire, Man Kumar Dhamala, Babu Ram Lamichhane, paradisi (Aves: Passeriformes: Monorchidae)from southern West Bengal, Rishi Ranabhat, Khim Bahadur KC & Shashank Poudel, Pp. 13644–13653 India – Nilemesh Das & Shuvadip Adhikari, Pp. 13782–13785 Communicatons A checklist of fsh species from three rivers in northwestern Bangladesh The diversity and conservaton of mammals in the Dodo Coastal Forest in southwestern Côte d’Ivoire, western Africa: a preliminary study based on a seven-year survey – Serge Pacome Keagnon Soiret, Célestn Yao Kouakou, Béné Jean-Claude Kof, – Imran Parvez, Mohammad Ashraful Alam, Mohammad Mahbubul Hassan, Blaise Kadjo, Philippe Kouassi, Peñate José Gomez, Reiko Matsuda Goodwin & Yeasmin Ara, Imran Hoshan & Abu Syed Mohammad Kibria, Pp. 13786–13794 Inza Kone, Pp. 13654–13666 New plant distributon records to Indian states and additon to the fora of Resource selecton by Javan Slow Loris Nyctcebus javanicus E. Geofroy, 1812 Myanmar (Mammalia: Primates: Lorisidae) in a lowland fragmented forest in – Kanakasabhapathi Pradheep, Ganjalagata Dasaiah Harish, Ranbir Singh Central Java, Indonesia Rathi, Joseph John Katukkunnel, Sheikh Mohmmad Sultan, Khoisnam – Mahfut Sodik, Satyawan Pudyatmoko, Pujo Semedi Hargo Yuwono & Naveen, Iyyappan Jaisankar, Anjula Pandey, Sudhir Pal Ahlawat & Rita Gupta, Muhammad Ali Imron, Pp. 13667–13679 Pp. 13795–13804
Species compositon and abundance of rodents in Kafa-Sheraro Natonal Park, Notes Ethiopia: preliminary results – Alembrhan Assefa & Chelmala Srinivasulu, Pp. 13680–13689 Sightng of Arunachal Macaque Macaca munzala Sinha et al., 2005 (Mammalia: Primates: Cercopithecidae) in Sakteng Wildlife Sanctuary, Colour aberraton in Indian mammals: a review from 1886 to 2017 Bhutan – Anil Mahabal, Radheshyam Murlidhar Sharma, Rajgopal Narsinha Patl & – Sonam Tobgay, Kumbu Dorji & Norbu Yangdon, Pp. 13805–13807 Shrikant Jadhav, Pp. 13690–13719 Rediscovery of an endemic Indian moth Gurna indica (Moore, 1879) Nestng trees of the Red Giant Gliding Squirrel Petaurista petaurista (Lepidoptera: Erebidae: Arctinae) afer 125 years (Mammalia: Rodenta: Sciuridae) in a tropical forest of Namdapha Natonal – Aparna Sureshchandra Kalawate, Neha Upadhyay & Banani Mukhopadhyay, Park, India Pp.13808–13810 – Murali Chatakonda Krishna, Awadhesh Kumar & Om Prakash Tripathi, Pp. 13720–13726 The Nepal Pipewort Eriocaulon nepalense var. luzulifolium (Commelinids: Insights into the diet and feeding behaviour of Red-capped Lark Poales: Eriocaulaceae): a new distributon record for southern India Calandrella cinerea (Aves: Passeriformes: Alaudidae) – Murugan Soumya & Maya C. Nair, Pp. 13811–13814 – Mary Mwangi, Nathan Gichuki, Robert Chira & Peter Njoroge, Pp. 13727– 13733
Baseline biodiversity and physiochemical survey in Parvat Kunda and surrounding area in Rasuwa, Nepal – Jessie Anna Moravek, Mohan Bikram Shrestha & Sanjeevani Yonzon, Pp. 13734–13747 Publisher & Host
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